As I have stated in previous articles, the "Failure of Fatherhood" is the greatest failure in the homes of America. There are three basic and key ingredients of a successful father in the home: Leadership, Love and Loyalty. Leadership in the family in Spiritual and moral values which sets the course of the family for life. Love that is not only stated, but shown and passed on to the Children will set the course of the family for life. Loyalty that sets the stage for trust and builds relationships that are strong for the times of testing that are sure to come as the family matures. The investment of these three ingredients will yield their sweet fruit for years to come. I heard this statement years ago: "We should raise our children so other people will want to be around them."

Sadly, most time children are a reflection of parents failures in the above areas. Proverbs 17:6 states, "Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers." Proverbs 20:7 states, "The Just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him." One of the great joys of the ministry is to see men set a Godly example of Love, Loyalty and Leadership and watch their children follow their walk in integrity. One of the great heartaches of the ministry is to watch men make the fatal mistake of not applying these things and face the ruin that follows.

I would like to encourage fathers at this point to consider the joy that will come later after you have applied the Love, Loyalty and Leadership to your family. I am sure the fruit of this will be children that respect authority and love their parents; Children that feel secure at home and will actually dread the day they have to leave; Children that will be prepared to have a family of their own following the example given to them through life; Children that can look back on life and say, "I have been blessed, and I want to be a blessing."

Fathers, it is not too late! I became a Christian on Father’s day in 1972 and it forever changed the outcome of my family. I do not want to even contemplate where we would all be today without the Lord in our lives.